By CHOW QIAN YING and TAN JEN LI
Photos by TAN JEN LI, CHOW QIAN YING and MELISSA ONG
brats@thestar.com.my

ONE common piece of advice many successful business people give their younger counterparts is to always think big. And that is exactly the lesson the aspiring young entrepreneurs at the recent National Youth Entrepreneurship Weekend (NYEW) learned.

Organised by the Taylor’s College Business Club, the event was aimed at empowering youths to gain the necessary skills to be creative and innovative Gen-Y entrepreneurs.

The event featured prominent speakers such as EYE Project co-founder Christopher Tock, Chatime Malaysia managing director Bryan Loo and Incentify marketing director Jolene Sim.

The two-day event included interactive workshops which introduced the participants to the tricks of the trade.

The two-day event included interactive workshops which introduced the participants to the tricks of the trade. There they learned how to think like entrepreneurs before being introduced to the fundamentals of business planning.

On the second day, there were a few interesting forums featuring founders, co-founders and CEOs of several respectable businesses who were more than happy to share their personal and professional take on entrepreneurship.

Participants were encouraged to direct their questions to the panel of speakers in hopes of getting answers that would help them set up their own businesses in the future.

Successful businesswoman Phng Li Kheng shared her account on the struggles she faced while trying to save the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf franchise her parents owned in Shanghai, China.

The CEO spoke of the business’ early days, heading towards bankruptcy and her persistence in bidding to set up their flagship outlet at an almost impossible location in Xintiandi – a bustling tourist attraction located in the centre of Shanghai.

Prominent speakers shared their personal and professional thought about entrepreneurship during NYEW.

The participants indeed had many questions for the speakers who patiently provided answers for queries such as “how do big corporations decide what sort of business ideas they should invest in?”, “what would your choice be, passion or sustainability?” and “how do you get start-up capital or funding as a young entrepreneur?”.

“NYEW is about introducing the concepts of entrepreneurship by bringing in the right panel of entrepreneurs to share their professional opinion and takes with like-minded youths,” said the event’s teacher advisor Kokilavani Sinasamy.

The event certainly served up some important tips to up and coming entrepreneurs.

“Anything can happen. Everything is about timing as opportunity is always there. People will only succeed when they are willing to take calculated risks” said student Ngoh Kai Hong, 19.

“NYEW is about putting inspirations to actions,” said Alele Teng, 19, the event organiser who had spent months on this project in aims of fulfilling the dreams of like-minded Gen-Y youths.
She hopes that NYEW provided opportunities for youths to gain valuable insight into entrepreneurship and helped them understand what it takes to reach their full potential.